Generally, routers, servers, and host computers may be found within an IP network. An Internet host computer within an IP network may be defined as the end consumer of communication services. A host generally executes application programs on behalf of users employing network communication functions in support of this function. The host is coupled to routers and servers within the typical IP network.
A router implementation of an IP stack that is used within a network gateway can be defined in the following way. An Internet gateway is a network device that is connected to two or more networks that appears to each of the networks as a connected host. The Internet gateway has one or more physical interfaces and IP address(es) on each of the networks to which it is connected. When forwarding a packet, the gateway chooses the next-hop gateway or the final hop for the destination host. This choice, referred to as routing, depends upon a routing table within the gateway.
The currently defined RFCs follow the model in which the user layer forwarding plane and the applications reside in the same physical chasses. This makes it difficult when the entities are separated across different physical chasses.
What is needed is a way for the different physical chasses to be treated as a single network element.